Does Alfie connect to my bank?

The Apple and Android editions have no bank connection. Android iscoming soon. Alfie never asks for bank logins, and there is no screen where you could hand over banking credentials.

Alfie does not use Plaid

Alfie does not use Plaid, and does not use MX, Finicity, Salt Edge or any other financial data aggregator. Most budgeting apps rely on one of these to read your accounts. Alfie relies on none of them, so there is no third company sitting between you and your budget, and no set of permissions to audit or revoke later.

So how do transactions get in?

• You enter them. Income, expenses, refunds and adjustments, in seconds.
• Or use supported receipt capture. On iPhone and iPad, the Apple edition can use its live camera and on-device recognition. On Mac, use photo import or manual entry; live-camera scanning is not available. The coming-soon Android edition processes receipt capture on device, and Android receipt images stay local rather than synchronizing.

You review and confirm everything before a single entry is saved.

Is manual entry a downside?

Sometimes, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. A linked feed catches transactions you forgot about — small recurring charges, fees, the subscription you stopped noticing. Alfie only knows what you tell it.

The trade is deliberate. Entering a purchase takes a few seconds and makes you look at it, which is most of the point of budgeting before you spend rather than reviewing after. If you would rather have automatic import,several apps do it welland we say so plainly.

Related

• Where is my budget data stored?
• Does Alfie work offline?
• Budget apps that don't connect to your bank

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